If you haven’t already heard, community printers are all the rage in multifamily right now. With recent mentions in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, forward-thinking property management professionals have turned their attention to this small amenity that is making a major impact on operational efficiencies, cost savings and resident satisfaction.
How Chicago's The Madison at Racine Transformed Resident Printing: A True Story
The following is a success story that highlights how one Class A property in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood made life better for residents and staff alike by implementing PrintWithMe, multifamily's elevated printer amenity.
The year is 2016.
Residents at Chicago’s The Madison at Racine, a luxury high rise in the Lincoln Property Company portfolio, are relying solely on the property management team for their printing needs.
Processing print jobs for 216 apartment homes is no small feat, and it has become a heavy burden for the property management team to bear.
Residents are growing increasingly frustrated at the amount of time it is taking for the staff to print their documents, and they are also aggravated by the fact that they are only able to print during leasing office hours.
In a building with top-tier amenities - including a fitness center with skyline views, an outdoor rooftop sundeck, concierge service and functional work spaces - this antiquated approach to printing makes zero sense.
After two years of printing insanity, the management team has finally had enough. They reach out to WithMe for help.
Installing a PrintWithMe device completely changed the game for everyone at The Madison at Racine. And it didn’t just fill a need. It offered an experience that complemented the superior quality of all of the other amenities the residents had come to know and love.
To this day, residents at The Madison at Racine enjoy having the ability to print from anywhere, any time, from any wireless device. And because of PrintWithMe’s advanced data security protocols, they no longer have to worry about how their personal information is being handled or used.
Residents aren’t the only ones who have benefited. Thanks to having access to live support 7 days a week, the staff no longer has to handle printer troubleshooting and repair. Thanks to having paper and toner automatically shipped to their door, they no longer have to make trips to the store. Thanks to all-inclusive pricing, their budgeting is hassle-free. And thanks to PrintWithMe’s advanced security features, they have one less vulnerability to worry about as data privacy legislation rolls out.
Since installation, 820 residents have printed 35,853 pages with an 8/10 satisfaction rating. Who knew a printer could have such an impact?!
If it’s time to level up your resident printing, let’s talk!
Printers are certainly getting their 15 minutes of fame.
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that a community printer is the unsung amenity that multifamily renters desire most.
And today, in a nod to Shark Week, The Washington Post launched a week-long exposé of the infamous piece of office equipment, declaring, "No other device inspires more fear and loathing than the printer."
Shortly after "Printer Week" was announced on The Washington Post's socials, the scathing comments started rolling in.
"The only good HP printer is a dead, smashed, ground up into tiny pieces HP."
"I understand the concern, but it's a known fact all printers are out to get us. They can sense fear, panic when you're on a deadline. You know I'm right."
Ouch.
One of the major issues with today's printing technology, as pointed out in Tatum Hunter's eye-opening article, is the fact that manufacturers and service providers are collecting personal data and selling it to the highest bidder.
Not cool.
Enter PrintWithMe.
While we can't erase the pain caused by printers past, we can help you experience the power of positive printing.
As Hunter reiterates in the article, PrintWithMe "temporarily stores printed documents with a third-party cloud provider, but only for 24 hours." We're not in the business of profiting off your personal information.
Here's a closer look at the specific safeguards we have in place:
We are grateful to Tatum Hunter and The Washington Post for shedding light on this important topic, especially considering the fact that printing isn't an obvious source of data compromise.
2023 is going to be a landmark year for data privacy legislation. As new laws are enacted, consumers are going to have significant recourse when their information is misused or mishandled, and business owners are going to have to seriously rethink their approach to data management.
Whether you're printing important documents or providing a printing service, PrintWithMe can help you keep personal information out of the wrong hands. We are a trusted printer partner in over 3,500 locations across all 50 states, and we serve over 1 million apartment homes. Since 2014, more than 2 million unique users have printed over 60 million pages.
If you're interested in bringing PrintWithMe to your multifamily property or your business, get in touch. To safely print important documents, find your nearest PrintWithMe kisok.
If you’re printing something on actual paper, there’s a good chance it’s important, like a tax form or a job contract.
But popular printing products and services won’t promise not to read it. In fact, they won’t even promise not to share it with outside marketing firms.
Ideally, printing services should avoid storing the content of your files, or at least delete daily. Print services should also communicate clearly upfront what information they’re collecting and why. Some services, like the New York Public Library and PrintWithMe, do both.
As of May 2023, 11.9% of full-time employees in the United States were exclusively working from home. Another 29.4% were working in hybrid models.
Upwork estimates that by 2025, an estimated 32.6 million Americans will be working remotely, equivalent to roughly 22% of the workforce.
The numbers don’t lie. Remote work is here to stay.
So what does this mean for the multifamily industry? It means residents will continue to need more places where they can comfortably and efficiently conduct business.
Chicago is no exception. Tamina Sheikh, senior regional property manager at Chicago’s Lincoln Property Company, says, “In my properties, we see a revolving door in common spaces. It’s not the same people every single day, but I would say, on any given day, it’s about 20 - 30% of the property that is working from home.”
To cope with this increased demand for remote work space, multifamily property residents have started getting creative with where they conduct business (think golf simulators and mail rooms). This is forcing properties to create flexible communal spaces that are comfortable for both work and recreation.
According to Sheikh, “I think it’s still very important to have robust amenity offerings, but it’s also crucial to think through how somebody might work from each of those individualized spaces. Because they will.”
How exactly are properties making existing amenity spaces flexible? Here are three examples:
As a more permanent solution to the need for dedicated coworking spaces, many properties are investing in full retrofits of outdated business centers or underutilized amenity spaces (theaters are a common one).
If a retrofit is in your future, consider these key investments as you build your budget:
Thoughtful FF&E and design aesthetics are critical in creating great coworking spaces, but technology is, frankly, non-negotiable. Where is your money best spent? Here are four smart investments:
To help reduce the burden of vendor management, it’s advantageous to work with platform companies that offer multiple solutions.
WithMe falls into that category, offering elevated printing and coffee amenities with perks for residents and on-site teams.
PrintWithMe’s all-inclusive packages make budgeting easy, while outsourced technical support and auto-shipped supplies reduce the burden on property management teams. Residents love having 24/7 access to reliable printing and live support if they ever run into issues. It’s been a huge hit at The Paragon in South Loop.
SipWithMe also boasts budget-friendly, all-inclusive pricing and outsourced technical support. Residents love being able to order 20+ roast-to-order beverages in the comfort of their own building.. Not only has SipWithMe helped to elevate the resident experience at 6 Class A properties in Chicago, it’s also reduced their coffee expenses by 49%!
When you’re ready to invest in elevated printer and coffee amenities for your remote workers (and the rest of your deserving residents), click here to schedule a conversation with us!
ZRS Management recently hosted their annual ZRS Education & Discovery Conference (ZED) in Hollywood, Florida. ZED was specifically designed to educate property managers, leasing professionals and the corporate team about the incredible difference technology can make in areas such as leasing, amenities and marketing.
Dozens of multifamily vendors, including WithMe, showcased tech-enabled amenities, products and software designed to grow business, support property management teams and increase resident satisfaction.
Here are 3 key takeaways from ZED 2023:
1. Invest in the technology that's right for you and your property.
We have all been known to think we can cut costs and even do things better on our own, but that isn’t always the case. In many instances, technology can not only help you reduce expenses, it can also make life better. Don’t get so set in your ways that you neglect to consider the positive value of investing in technology.
How exactly do you go about finding the technology that will give you the greatest return on your investment?
First and foremost, identify the amenities or the tasks that cause you the most stress, time and expense.
Once you’ve identified your pain points, start researching! At conferences and trade shows, make time to visit with exhibitors. Ask your colleagues for insight on what’s been working for them. Keep an eye on trade publications for product announcements, reviews and case studies.
Technology isn’t one-size-fits all. Take time to find the solutions that increase your efficiency, provide the highest ROI and improve your quality of life.
2. Always provide exceptional service and maintain a high standard of professionalism.
When selecting vendors and products, stop to evaluate the impact on the overall quality of the service you’re providing. Automation and centralization can certainly maximize efficiency, but they can also end up creating a cold and impersonal experience. At the end of the day, your residents are people, too, and they deserve to feel valued and important.
3. Use amenities to reduce employee stress and burnout.
Attracting residents is tough. But right now, attracting and retaining great multifamily employees is arguably even tougher.
Your team shouldn’t have to sacrifice their sanity to keep residents happy. It’s important to identify amenity solutions that work for you, not against you.
While showcasing SipWithMe at ZED, the WithMe team received multiple comments from property managers about how helpful it would be to have a fixed cost for their coffee amenity. Budgeting season is just around the corner. Wouldn’t it be nice to have fewer line items to scrutinize and blindly forecast? Tech-enabled amenities can make that possible!
Tech-enabled amenities can also reduce time-consuming tasks that create stress and major headaches. Dealing with supplies, for example. Your team has better things to do than try to remember to monitor supply levels and make emergency trips to the store when they forget to reorder things on time. Services like PrintWithMe remotely monitor supply levels and ship them right to your door, right when you need them.
PrintWithMe and SipWithMe may or may not be the right solutions for your property, but the point is that it’s important to implement technology that makes life better for everyone in your community, and that includes your staff. When your team members are happy, they’re more engaged. And when they’re more engaged, you’re more likely to retain them.
We hope these takeaways are helpful as you formulate future property management and resident acquisition strategies, and we hope to see you at ZED 2024!
Woody Stone, Cushman & Wakefield’s president of U.S. multifamily asset services, recently went on record to discuss the company’s goal to use technology and proptech to improve the team member experience.
“Today’s staffing challenges, both in finding and retaining staff and in the escalating payroll costs, are pushing us to innovate,” Stone tells Multifamily Executive.
One proptech solution being used by several Cushman & Wakefield properties is PrintWithMe, a printer amenity that offers residents an elevated wireless printing experience.
The service has proven to be an ideal fit for Cushman & Wakefield’s culture. In the words of Stone, “We are committed to creating a culture where we ‘Care First and Care Most’ for our clients, residents, and team members. This is what defines us.”
PrintWithMe takes care of Cushman & Wakefield residents by giving them 24/7 access to an amenity they love (take it from the Wall Street Journal), while keeping their personal information protected.
The solution takes care of property management teams by outsourcing all technical support, automatically shipping paper and toner when supplies are running low, and simplifying the budgeting process. Removing these operational burdens has helped reduce staff stress, prevent burnout and allow team members to focus on more important and more valuable tasks.
WithMe’s mission is to make lives better every day, and we are proud to be helping Custhman & Wakefield keep its promise to Care First and Care Most about its teams and its residents.
Interested in elevating the printer amenity at your property? Click here to find out how to become a PrintWithMe partner.
Apartmentalize 2023, hosted by The National Apartment Association, is just around the corner. Boasting more than 75 educational sessions and a seemingly endless array of networking opportunities, figuring out the best way to maximize your time can be daunting. But don’t fret. We’ve got you covered with 6 tips to ensure you have a great experience:
1. Come on, get app-y.
Well before you ever leave for Atlanta, familiarize yourself with the Apartmentalize 2023 app, available for iOS and Android.
Before using the app, you’ll need to create a myNAA Planner account using your registration email address and the ID number from your Apartmentalize confirmation.
Once you’ve created a myNAA account, you can log in to the app, and you’ll be able to look up education sessions, exhibitors and activities and add them to your itinerary.
At the conference, you can use the app’s interactive map to find exhibitors, access session handouts and even take notes.
2. Dress for success and to impress.
Most attendees will be in business casual attire. The days will be long, so be sure you’re comfortable, but also remember you’re representing your organization - and yourself! Take pride in your appearance.
Conference floors and meeting rooms can get chilly. Dress in layers to be sure you’ll always be comfortable.
3. Wear comfortable shoes.
Enough said.
4. Pack your bags.
Be sure you always have these two items with you during the conference:
5. Get social.
NAA does an incredible job populating their social profiles with helpful information. Before heading to the conference, be sure you are following #Apartmentalize on Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter or Instagram. Lean into the conversation on your favorite platform for an insider’s view of what is trending before, during and even after the conference.
6. Be flexible.
This may initially strike you as an impolite gesture, but if a session is not working for you, it’s okay to leave! NAA actually encourages that mentality!
Find another session that interests you. Meet up with peers outside the conference room who want to network and engage in dialogue about other topics. Invest your time wisely!
7. Visit the WithMe team (and all of the other amazing vendors)!
Fuel up with a cup of delicious SipWithMe coffee and find out how WithMe’s amenities can help you elevate your resident experience, save staff time and hassle, decrease your spend and control costs.
Here’s where you can find us:
Booth 508
June 8: 11:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
June 9: 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Prefer the VIP treatment? Schedule a time to meet with us here.
Feel like doing a little recon before Apartmentalize? Browse the LinkedIn profiles of everyone who will be attending:
We clearly like to toot our own horn, but seriously, take the time to visit with vendors that interest you. You will likely uncover new products and services that can help you elevate your property and improve operations!
We can’t wait to connect with you June 7-9 in Atlanta!
CHICAGO, September 9, 2021 - Today, PrintWithMe announced that WithMe, Inc would serve as a holding company for its business. This reorganization of their corporate structure comes after years of significant revenue growth and expands the WithMe enterprise mission to deliver innovative technologies beyond wireless printing on-demand.
"The reorganization of our corporate structure solidifies our expanding mission and signals a new wave of exciting technology solutions we will bring to clients and end-users," said Jonathan Treble, WithMe, Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer, "Our team has grown in numbers and in talent with several new members joining us every month and we are excited to launch new offerings in the coming months."
The move to the new structure headed by WithMe, Inc. supports the firm's accelerated expansion into new verticals and sets the stage for a diversified product offering. PrintWithMe will be joined by WithMe in supporting new offerings to the WithMe enterprise core client verticals with its new offerings: multifamily apartment communities, shared offices, and retailers.
About WithMe, Inc.
WithMe, Inc. is a diversified physical technology services holding company. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, PrintWithMe LLC, is ranked #659th by the 2021 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America and provides wireless printing services. Its mission is to provide simple and convenient technologies across retail, multifamily, shared offices, and other verticals. For more information, please visit withmeinc.co or follow on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Media Contact:
Kasie Valenti
kasie.valenti@printwithme.com
I’m excited to announce that PrintWithMe has made the 2021 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. Ranked #659th, joins the ranks of Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Patagonia, and other household names that gained their first national exposure as members of the Inc. 5000 list. 2020 was a challenging and unprecedented year. With so many challenges brought upon as a result of the pandemic, and the resulting fallout, many firms struggled to adapt and overcome the circumstances. Over the course of the pandemic, PrintWithMe has not only managed to adapt, but thrive under the circumstances. We’ve managed to hit many important milestones and continue to grow at a record pace. We expanded to over 2,000 locations across the country, became profitable for the first time, and grew our team to over 25 individuals. During this, we successfully transitioned to a remote-first model, and led the way for other companies to decentralize their workforce, all while maintaining the culture that has fueled our growth.
All of this would not have been possible without the dedication and contribution of each member of the PrintWithMe team, and our incredible clients. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and I’m looking forward to accomplishing more great things in the future.
Trips to the DMV are not always hassle-free. Make the experience better for both your guests and staff by offering a self-serve PrintWithMe printer amenity.
A trip to your local Department of Motor Vehicles (a.k.a. DMV or BMV) is traditionally a task many individuals dread. The dread is definitely understandable; nationwide, it’s unfortunately very common to expect long lines at the DMV in which you spend hours in line, only to find out that you forgot to bring with you a single important document that is needed for a new or expiring driver’s license. The possibility of being told to go home by DMV staff, print out the necessary document(s), and come back to stand in line for hours again is not something any of us want to experience.
Many DMV and BMV managers strive to improve guest experiences by implementing helpful solutions, such as offering online pre-registration, clarifying required documents online, setting up pre-checks at the door to assist customers before they even join the line, and more.
However, there’s one main obstacle standing between processing as many guests who walk through the door: guests that show up with incomplete documents.
Enter PrintWithMe. PrintWithMe is a self-serve,on-demand, wireless printing station that allows your guests to easily print out any documents they need right from their smartphones while waiting in line at your DMV location. Having a PrintWithMe printer at your DMV location helps in a number of ways:
PrintWithMe started working with DMV locations in 2020 after realizing the overwhelming number of Google reviews at DMVs reflecting frustrated customers who are complaining about traveling all the way to the DMV and then waiting in long lines for hours just to be turned away because they are missing a utility bill or a valid proof of address.
To learn more about how PrintWithMe is helping DMVs and BMVs to improve guest and staff experiences, we interviewed one of PrintWithMe’s early adopters, Bob Teodosio, the Owner of Deputy Registrar of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV).
Q1: How long have you been partnering with PrintWithMe and how does it work at your Ohio BMV location?
Bob: We’ve been partnering with PrintWithMe since January 2020. The process is really seamless: when our customers are waiting in line and realize that they need something printed, a staff at pre-check will hand them an instruction sheet on how to use PrintWithMe and by the time it’s their turn, they’d tell our staff that they’ve printed their documents. Our staff pick up their documents and process their requests, and they’re out the door.
Q2: What is the biggest struggle your DMV experiences?
Bob: The biggest struggle in a DMV is usually managing the flow and getting people in and out the door as quickly as possible so that we can generate as many transactions in a day as possible.
Q3: What solutions have you implemented to help speed up the line?
Bob: The nice thing that we do here is having a staff stationed at the door to pre-check every customer that walks through the door. And let's say they are missing some pieces of proof of address, our door staff will tell the customer to go on and email their documents to the PrintWithMe printer. By the time they get to the counter, the document has already been printed. So there's no delay; it expedites the entire process!
Q4: How does having printing on-site help you stand out among other DMV or BMV locations and maximize your revenue?
Bob: If a customer comes in here with three IDs and a driver's license to process, and they don't have proof of address, I'm going to have to send them away. Once they walk out of the door, there’s no guarantee they’ll come back instead of going to other DMV locations, and [other DMV locations] are going to make the money. So my whole goal is to keep people inside the agency and not send them away without performing a transaction. That's the importance of having a PrintWithMe printer.
Q5: How does printing contribute to your customer experience?
Bob: Well, you can’t make everyone happy, but having PrintWithMe eliminates one reason for someone to be upset. Imagine having to already spend $50 or $60 on a sticker and being sent home just because you have to retrieve a piece of mail for proof of address–it’s pretty frustrating. So when I tell our customers that they can simply use PrintWithMe and it costs close to nothing, they’re thrilled.
Q6: What do your employees say about having a PrintWithMe at your location?
Bob: It makes my employees feel good and it’s made the atmosphere better! Think about it, customers no longer have to be turned away for missing a document that could be printed using PrintWithMe. Customers are in a better mood and when they get to the counter, they actually think that it’s so cool that we help them with printing. Instead of having a negative experience, everyone shares a positive one, because of PrintWithMe.
PrintWithMe is a proven and effective way to improve and elevate the DMV experience for both customers and staff alike. It helps (1) shorten wait times, (2) maximize revenue, and (3) increase the satisfaction of customers.
Contact us at sales@printwithme.com if you’re looking to upgrade the experience at your DMV location! Learn more at https://withme.com/printwithme/.